As China targets Jack Media’s Media Empire, President Rabbit thrives

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Although China wants to remove media sales from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Jack Ma, authorities allow several patriotic beginners to flourish in one of the world’s most limited media spaces.

One of the main voices is President Rabbit – the social media mechanic of Ren Yi, Prince Harling University, whose popularity is due in part to Chinese citizens who are tired of what they consider to be a constant China in Western media . Chairman Rabbit, a former assistant to the late Sinologist Ezra Vogel, has a due to more than two million followers on social media platforms Weibo and WeChat.

The media should have ‘social responsibility’ and reflect on public sentiment, Ren said in a telephone interview. He added that China is still trying to find a balance between allowing different views, while also not losing public confidence in political institutions.

Ren’s success helps to show where the line for permissible speech is under President Xi Jinping, who has further limited the space for dissenting and critical voices since accepting power in 2012. by forcing Ma to sell properties like the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, China is also regularly going to destroy new media platforms that are not under its control.

Last month, authorities quickly blocked Clubhouse after it was a place where internet users, including those in China, gathered to discuss the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and the independence of Taiwan. Around the same time, social media users and bloggers had to obtain a license to be aware of current events, making it virtually impossible for anyone to work outside of China’s censorship system.

But some of those who accept the restrictions find large audiences among Chinese citizens who are skeptical of Western narratives and state-controlled mouthpieces such as the People’s Daily or China Central Television. Ren’s writing began during the pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, when he won well-educated readers who were not entirely convinced by the reports presented by the mainstream Chinese media.

Ren argued that the protesters were driven by identity politics, and that they would never support the authorities of the continent, regardless of the economic incentives. He compared Hong Kong youths wearing black T-shirts to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that the leaders of the financial center had been infiltrated by the ‘deep state’ and that they should be screened for their political views – an idea. that Xi applied this year with rules that only “patriots ”can rule the city.

China’s need for a positive story outside official sources – including aggressive diplomats who ‘Wolf Warriors ”in the West – is being made increasingly clear following criticism of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In recent years, Beijing has been increasingly on the defensive in the face of widespread criticism of how it treats mostly Muslim-ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.

“They will demonize you”

Xi has long called for Chinese media workers and academics to do better work by telling China’s stories to the world. Some were sent to study with them Zhang Weiwei at the Chunqiu Institute at Fudan University, according to two people who attended the sessions. According to one of the people, Zhang is a strong supporter of how China’s government model is better than Western democracies.

Chinese scholars are also trying to find ways to explain China in a way that is understandable to the West. Wang Yiwei, director of Renmin University’s Institute of International Affairs and a former Chinese diplomat, said decoupling was due to the fact that the US was unable to destroy or assimilate China.

“The US has a very religious way of thinking – they want to bring you into their sphere,” said Wang, who is working on a book that he says is China’s counter-argument to Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. ‘ “And if they can not, they will demonize you and try to destroy you.”

Wang Zichen was so overwhelmed by how Western journalists discussed China, that he decided to publish his own newsletter. Almost a year later, ‘Beijing Technology ”quickly gained about 1,600 subscribers – including diplomats in Beijing, journalists and investors – with a deep dive into everything who really owns Huawei Technologies Co. to the fuzier elements of Chinese politics such as the “Spirit of the Fifth Plenum”.

“It shows that telling a Chinese story from a Chinese perspective, deeply rooted in Chinese practice, is of great value to the West and can be appreciated,” Wang Zichen said.

As chairman of Rabbit, Wang Zichen presents himself as an independent voice, even though he works during the day as a reporter with state-run media. Xinhua News Agency. He said his bosses gave a tacit nod of approval to continue his side project, but insisted he act alone. “It’s a one – man shop,” he said. “There is no outside help, intervention or guidance.”

Wang Zichen sees leading China observer Bill Bishop as an inspiration, especially to show that China expertise can be financially profitable. Pekingnology is published on the Substack platform, in which Bishop is an investor. Wang Zichen also admires Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper by the Communist Party, because he was one of the first to defend China on Twitter.

“I love my country deeply,” Wang Zichen said. “I think people understand more about China in its own, intended original meaning – that’s the purpose of people in my profession.”

– With help from Colum Murphy, Jing Li and Lucille Liu